


Lady Vorpatril's Allliances

by E_Rocc



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 10:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12679644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E_Rocc/pseuds/E_Rocc
Summary: An alternate-canon preface to "Captain Vorpatril's Alliance."Or is it.....





	Lady Vorpatril's Allliances

Simon Illyan found Lady Alys Vorpatril in her office, going over the arrangements for the planned visit by the Polian President and his wife.

“I just spoke to Duv Galeni about an interesting circumstance. Is By still on Komarr?”

“Yes, Simon. He’s been tagging along with that distasteful entourage of Theo Vormercier’s. Not for too much longer I hope. He’s not 25 anymore. Or even 30.”.

“Good. Duv would like to borrow him for a little inquiry. It seems that one of Baron Cordonah’s daughters may be on Komarr, along with a member of the Baronne’s dance troupe.”

“The Jewels? How exactly did that come about?”

Simon replied, “We’re not exactly sure. Certainly they are running from House Prestene, along with the rest of their family. They may simply be running and hiding. Prestene has been quite vicious in its pursuit. They were IDed at shuttleport customs almost inadvertently, and the decision was made to let them in. ”

Alys shuddered “Yes, I saw the reports of the execution of the Baron and Baronne”.

“Those were faked, actually. At last report they were in hiding on Earth. Needless to say, their kin on Komarr are almost certainly unaware of this.”

“Well that’s good. But why do we need to bring By into this? They were one of the more important Great Houses because of their wormhole, but we had no close ties. The Baronne, after all, is of Cetagandan birth.”

Simon replied, “Nevertheless, our source inside House Prestene, which is a very good one, tells us that the Cetagandans are calling the shots there. That makes this very interesting. Having leverage on Cordonah, and keeping them in play, may have benefits. On the other hand, we cannot be seen to even remotely take sides unless and until they are again viable.”

“So you want By to do what, exactly.”

“Investigate them. Identify them as certainly as possible. Recommend means for contacting them and possibly bringing them in. “

Lady Alys saw one other need. “If Prestene and perhaps the Cetagandans are pursuing them, don’t they need protection?”

“Oh, that’s taken care of. Those two young ladies are as safe as anyone on Komarr. They don’t know this yet, of course. Indeed, only Duv, his protection commander, and their security team do. Not even By is to know about that”

*****

Byerly Vorrutyer’s tightbeam report back was quite complete. The two refugees appeared to be the youngest Arqua daughter, who usually went by Tej, and Lapis Lazuli, the blue member of the Cordonah Jewels dance troupe. The former was actually working in a small store, the latter quite carefully hidden away. This information of course corresponded to the reports of their protection squad, though the latter did not know their actual identities.

It’s was Byerly’s suggestion that took Lady Alys aback.

_The public member of the team is very jumpy and hesitant, for good reasons of course. Any obvious approach would scare her off and that includes any male who either lacks confidence or comes across too smoothly._

_Actually, the perfect solution would be to maneuver Ivan into picking her up. She is basically his exact type, so this shouldn’t be too tough. The only issue would be him balking if he thought he was being aimed at her. I could arrange it so he believes he is rescuing her. He’s never really lost that knight errant streak, he is almost as bad as Miles sometimes. Of course, that would assume he is on Komarr._

Lady Alys considered this, and considered the bio she had already read of the young Arqua daughter. 

*****

Emperor Gregor Vorbarra glanced at his comconsole as it chimed. Lady Alys. One of the very few people he didn’t quite dare put off, even to this day. He approved the call.

“Sire, do you know if Ivan has any reason to be visiting Komarr soon? There’s a little piece of business we’d like to have him take care of there. Somewhat urgent.”

“Hmmmm, I will have to check with General DesPlaines but I believe there is an ops conference coming up there in two or three months. Will that be soon enough?”

“I would defer to General Allegre, but I tend to doubt it”.

Gregor’s brows rose. “Oh, that sort of business. I can certainly “request” that it be moved up. “

“Please do. Thank you, sire.”

*****

Simon Illyan contemplated the plot. “Well, that certainly happened efficiently. The only concern I have is that all is now in Byerly’s hands.”

Lady Alys Vorpatril didn’t quite bristle, but it was a near call. “We have both worked directly with him. He may be eccentric, but he is indeed competent. To put it mildly.”

“Indeed he his, my lady. But I always said about Miles that he regarded any order worth obeying as worth exceeding, and the only thing one ever knew about what would happen was that it would never be simple or straightforward. I didn’t always say that about Vorrutyer. Only some of the time. So imagine Miles in charge of this.”

Lady Alys Vorpatril didn’t often openly cringe. But it had been known to happen.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by By's role in "A Civil Campaign" and the movies "No Way Out" and "The Usual Suspects". About 12 hours from concept to finished work.


End file.
